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When I walked with my friends past this strange store I
always looked at this box, they always told me I should get it but I was
afraid. Something, something that was dormant in me said "NO" it
literally screamed for it but always when I went past this store my eyes were
tied to this box. One day I couldn't stand it anymore.
 
I walked into the store that day, I seem to remember it was
a Monday, because I had the day off. I worked in a museum of ancient
mythologies, which is why this box reminded me of the box of Pandora. When I
entered the store, a small bell rang and from the back room came an old lady
with a friendly smile. There were not many people in the store and I wondered
how it was keeping afloat, every visitor was at least twice my age and I am 24.
I made my way to the box and looked at it, at that moment the old woman
appeared and grabbed me by my shoulder

"isn't she beautiful"?

She asked and smiled warmly at me

"She is beautiful" I replied and she
nodded

"Your name is Pandora my child isn't it?"

I faltered, how did
she know? The shock in my eyes was apparently "yes" enough to know
what I was going to say

"She is looking for you, Pandora. My name is
Tyche, the box is longing for you my child. May the gods be with you."

Then she disappeared again and greeted the next customers, funny old codger, I
thought to myself. I pocketed the box out of curiosity and decided to open it
at home.
 
I quickly left the store and when I got home I put the box
on my desk. I felt bad for the woman but curiosity craved the lust in me, then
I opened it and looked inside; at that very moment a storm began, a tornado to
be exact. All the ravens in the whole area, there must have been hundreds if
not thousands flying around. I looked at the box and something escaped, a
shadow, then I knew what I had done.
 
Because when I looked back into the box, I saw something
sparkling at the bottom of the box, the spirit of hope.
 
 

There it was again. That stupid box. Ever since I'd started walking past Anna's Antiques two months ago after I totalled my car, I'd seen this little box sitting in the window of a storefront display. Several golden figurines of dragons in various poses sat around it, almost as a guard. Shimmering carpets were hung around it, blocking the interior of the shop from view. I'd never cared about them. But that box. It...whispered to me...through the window.

This is was probably the fortieth time I'd walked by that window. As I walked past it my eyes, as they always did, snapped to that little box. It was mostly brown, but the corners of it had started darkening, almost turning black as through it was in a fire. Two pieces of twine tied the box shut tightly, keeping its wooden lid firmly in place.

I thought I could hear it again. As though it were whispering my name through the glass.

"Cameron..." it seemed to say. "Come to me...open me..."

I looked at the price tag, as I always did. $10,000. It's no wonder nobody had bought it.

My phone chimed, so I tore my eyes from the box to read the message from my boss.

James: Not enough work today. Stay home. We'll pay you half time

I tapped a quick reply to him and my eyes went back to the box as I slid my phone into my pocket.

What could going into the shop hurt now? I'd never been inside before.

When I passed through the front door of Anna's Antiques, I felt as though I'd stepped outside on a bitterly cold winter day. Gooseflesh immediately erupted over my entire body and I started shivering at once.

"Hello?" I called out into the shop. No answer.

I walked around the shelves packed with items; old scrolls, little figurines, amulets, jewels, shawls, and things I had no name for. Still, that box whispered my name. Now that I was in the shop, it was more insistent. Maybe if I could find a shopkeeper, I could convince them to let me look in the box.

When I got to the counter, I realized nobody was there. A door stood open behind the counter and the small room was empty.

"Hello?" I called out again and my voice seemed to echo back to me in the shop.

I decided to circle around and head to the window display, where I saw the box sitting there. The closer I got, I seemed to feel a heat emanating from it.

What could it hurt to pick it up? I reached out and grabbed the box, lifting it easily. It felt empty. I gave it a little shake and nothing rattled inside.

"Run!" the box screamed at me. "Take me and run!"

I realized the voice wasn't in the air. I didn't hear it with my ears. I could hear it with my mind.

"RUN!"

I bolted, tucking the box under my arm and heading out the door. As I ran down the sidewalk, I looked back and what I saw stopped me in my tracks.

Anna's Antiques was gone. Stunned, I walked back to the spot where the shop had been, my heart pounding a furious tattoo in my chest. It was a blank brick wall. I reached out and ran my hand over the spot where the door had been only moments ago.

"Good job," said the box. "You've done very well."

I ignored it and started heading home, but the box didn't stop talking.

"I've been in that shop for years. Nearly 300 years. I've been reaching out to people, but you're the first to have heard me."

When I get to my townhouse down the block, I fumbled with my keys, the box under my arm. It slipped from my grip and landed with a heavy thud. Much too heavy for an empty box.

"Hey, watch it!" said the box, outraged.

"I'm sorry," I said, then realize how stupid it was to talk to a box. Clearly I was dreaming. Or going crazy.

When we got inside, I set the box on my kitchen table and just stared at it. Ten seconds passed. Then twenty. Then thirty.

"Well this is fun," said the box in a sarcastic voice.

"What's happening to me?" I asked it. "Am I going crazy?"

"No, kid, you're not."

"Kid? I'm twenty-one years old," I thought.

"You think that matters to me? I'm 7,000 years old. Every human alive is a kid to me."

"Wait, you can—"

"Hear your thoughts? Yeah," said the box.

"What...who...are you?"

"Open the box, and I'll show you."

I reached out with trembling fingers and gripped the knot at the top of the twine. A simple pull on the ends of the bow undid the knot and the twine fell away.

"Go on," the box said, "pull the lid off."

I grabbed the lid, pulled it off, and looked inside.

Wait- what? What am I doing?!

I run as fast as I can, as far from the disappearing shop as possible, until I arrive at the door to my apartment complex. I frantically take the stairs and hide behind my house's door.
The box is sitting, silent, in my arms. But I know.
I know it talks.
It whispers to passerbies, to adults, to children, to whoever is desperate or weak enough to let it speak. It's secrets are revealed to anyone close enough to the old shop's window, entering the feeble minds of mortals.
And the shop? What about the place the box was stored? And the old antiquarian running it? He saw me entering, he saw me stealing it, and still he didn't flinch. Who, what, were they? A bait.
Simply a bait.
The golden statues, the ornate jewels, the porcelain artifacts flooding the whole shop. All smoke and lies. All whispers of one, bland box.

This- this makes no sense! What is this box? Why did I steal it?, I think, but I do nothing. I just stand there, back laid on the door, panting and hardly breathing, still recovering from my run.

After a few minutes, I carefully place the box on the kitchen counter, and observe it's details. The carefully carved wood and the finely modelled metal of the lid are the box's only special details. Otherwise, with it's rough edges and rusty lock, it would be perfectly, absolutely anonymous.

I stand there, in front of it.
It stays silent.
I touch the lock, not knowing what to expect, and it falls to the ground. As soon as it touches my carpet, it disappears in a cloud of smoke, almost like the shop did.
And then, I hear it.
The voice.
"...Open..."
I freeze.
"...Free... ...Please..."
Birds chirp out my window. An old man's blabbering loudly on the sidewalk. But I can't move.
"...You... ...Please... ...F R E E  M E ."
When the voice screams, I finally move. I run behind the counter, croucing and hiding from the box.
Then, my cat turns an angle, appearing with a long meow.
Its eyes start glinting. It looks at the counter and in a second it has already reached it. The cat slowly and aloofly circles the box under my shocked gaze.
It then touches its lid, playfully, innovently, right in the centre.
The box shuts open.
A blinding light explodes from it, hurting my eyes, and I fall backwards.
The same voice as before echoes in my ears as I fall, but now it's less clear and not directed to me.
"Grace be upon you, Saviour of Humanity"
My cat meows.
I suddenly feel a burning inside me, almost like an explosion, and for reason unknown to me, I smile.
Then, everything fades to black.

[deleted]

And then???

When I get off work tonight, I'll edit it with what happens next, just for you! 😁